Afterlife
by Sophia Lilia
Summary: Phoebe Mitchell has surived Woodbury and the Governor. Now she must survive the rest of the afterlife, what she calls the devastation left behind by the dead after the outbreak, with her new friends at the prison. One person in particular intrigues Phoebe but can she handle him as well as the undead?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

When they first found me I thought they were impossible. Nobody could be that lucky. They certainly didn't think so sometimes. But they were. Daryl says it's because of Rick. He doesn't realise he's important too. But Rick is the one who got them out of Atlanta, the CDC and Shane's mess and found the prison after surviving the winter on the run.

Piper and I never thought anyone could be as lucky as us but it turns out that we weren't that lucky after all, just manipulated. Woodbury seemed like the perfect town, the perfect escape from the undead. Unfortunately, appearances aren't everything. As it turns out, the Governor was just batshit crazy, leading us all on in his mission to become all powerful and gain revenge on the 'bad guys'. What do you do when the bad guys turn out to actually be the good guys and you're a minion of the devil? I ran. Well, I tried. Martinez, the little shit, is not as good with that rifle of his as he'd have everyone think. Piper wasn't so lucky. She was shot by the Governor himself, a headshot ensuring she wouldn't return as one of the undead. That, at least, I could be thankful for. I don't think she suffered, or at least I hope not.

Rick's people found me when they came after the Governor. He had gunned down everyone who had gone with him to the prison battle and then took off. I hope he dies. Bastard. Anyway, they found me hiding in the bed of the truck, a shot wound to my thigh. After taking in all the people left in Woodbury, Herschel stitched me up and Maggie and Carol got me settled in my very own cell at the prison.

It's been a month or so since the attack on the prison. I've made friends here, buried Piper here. Herschel said she was classed as family now too, even though she never really met them. She's buried with the original groups' friends, Lori and T-Dog. I hope she's happy wherever she is now. I know I'm content here. I have food, shelter, friends and my leg has finally healed enough for me to go out on runs now so I can start pulling my weight more. Not that killing walkers through the fences isn't hard labour but I'd like to contribute more to the people that saved me. I know Piper would kick my ass if I didn't.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It had now been approximately four months since the attack. I was eating my porridge in the kitchen with Carol and Beth, who was feeding Judith her bottle when Carl came running in.

"Phoebe! Daryl wants to know if you're going on the Big Spot run."

I turned to face him. "Yeah buddy, where is he?"

"By the gate with the others."

"Thanks kid." I pat Carl on the shoulder as I passed him. I supposed he wasn't really a kid anymore with everything he'd already been through. Maggie had given me the group's story when I first moved in with the rest of Woodbury. She had really become the closest thing to a best friend I had now that Piper was gone. I found Daryl next to his bike with Rick and they both turned to face me as I near them. "Carl said you asked for me?"

"Yeah, wanted to know if you were goin' on the run?" Daryl tossed the dirty rag he was using to wipe down his bike over his shoulder as he spoke.

"Yeah, well I figure it's time I started being more useful around here," I ran my hands through my hair and used the band on my wrist to pull curls into a high ponytail, as neatly as I could without a brush or a mirror. My hair startled most people, the unusual white colour unsettling to some. I wasn't really albino, I had green eyes, but I was born with white hair, even my eyebrows (though I had dark lashes) and always preferred it to any other colour. It suited me, I thought.

"Well, you ain't exactly useless Pheebs," Rick stated. "You've been a big help with the walkers on the fence."

"I know, but now Herschel's cleared my leg I thought I'd help out a bit more."

"We could always use more people on runs," Daryl said as he sat on his bike. Maggie told me it had belonged to Daryl's brother originally. I had met Merle once or twice in Woodbury. No offence to Daryl, or disrespect to the dead, but Merle Dixon had been a real dick.

I nodded and, at Daryl's gesture, I climbed on the bike behind him. After a quick farewell to Rick we sped out the gate as it opened, the car containing the others on the run quick to follow.

It was deserted. The parking lot of the Big Spot had been turned into an army refugee camp at some point but now it was mostly deserted; only a few rotting bodies here and there, no walkers in sight.

"Spotted this place last week," Daryl told her. "Bunch of walkers behind the fence like guard dogs." Sasha looked confused, "Did you get rid of the walkers? They don't just leave for no reason."

Glenn smiled, "Listen." Phoebe did as he said and after a minute she could hear a familiar sound that she hadn't heard in a long time. "We hooked up a boom box to two car batteries."

"Thought we'd come back with a bigger group, got enough people now we can grab a lot of shit." Daryl said. "Let's make a sweep, make sure it's safe." They wound up at the front window of the store. Daryl knocked on the glass and sat down. "Give it a minute."

Zack, who had been found a couple of months ago and was also Beth's new boyfriend as of recent, looked at Daryl, a thoughtful look on his face as Phoebe leaned next to Michonne. "I think I got it."

"Got what?" Michonne asked? Phoebe snorted, "Zach's been trying to guess what Daryl did before the Turn."

"Been tryna guess for a few weeks now," the hunter smirked.

"I've been pacing myself, one guess a day." Zack replied.

"Alright, shoot."

"Well, you're on the council, you can track, you're helping people but you're still kind of… surly."

"This'll be good," Phoebe smirked.

"This is a big swing but… homicide detective." Zach seemed firm in his guess but his grin dropped as Phoebe and Michonne started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Daryl demanded, seemingly offended.

"Oh, nothing," Michonne answered. "Makes perfect sense."

"Actually, the man's right, undercover." Phoebe grinned, sensing the humour in Daryl's toned.

"Come on, really?" The younger man asked.

"I don't like to talk about it, heavy shit you know?" Daryl huffed as though thinking back on all the 'heavy shit'.

Zach finally caught on, shaking his head. "I guess I'll just keep guessing."

Daryl smirked again. "Yeah you keep doing that."

Michonne laughed, "We gonna do this detective?"

"Let's do it." Daryl quickly got the group's attention. "Alright, we go in, stay in formation for the sweep," he instructed.

"You know what you're supposed to be looking for," Sasha said.

"Any questions?" asked Glenn.

"Was there a time you weren't the boss of me?" Tyreese asked his sister and everyone laughed before they got serious again. The group did a wide formation and met back in the middle. "Clear!"

"Alright, let's get this show on the road."

Phoebe wandered the aisles as quickly and as quietly as she could, filling her bag with any canned food she came across, as well as other essentials such as feminine hygiene products, hand sanitisers, packs of tissues and wipes, a few boxes of ibuprofen that had been buried under a few magazines. Thankfully she had not come across any member of the undead so far but she figured that luck would quickly run out as she heard a massive crash echo throughout the store. Turning down the aisle to her right, Phoebe followed to commotion to the beer and spirits section only to find Bob sprawled under a shelving unit, bottles smashed all around him.

"The hell was that?" Daryl yelled from the other side of the store.

"We're over in wine and spirits!" Zach yelled back before Daryl coming sprinting around the opposite end of the aisle from Phoebe.

"You alright, you cut or something?"

"I'm alright, my foot is caught," Bob huffed. "I was moving fast, man. Dove right into the drinks."

"Man you lucked out. If this thing came down the wrong way…" Tyreese told him.

All of a sudden there was a loud crack from above and the ceiling came tumbling down, a walker falling with it caught in the wires and left dangling above them. "Jesus," Phoebe murmured.

"Uh, we should probably go now." Glenn said, a little panicky.

"Bob's stuck." Phoebe moved forward but Ty stepped in front of her and Sasha. "I got him, you go," he said, while Daryl moved forward to help lift the shelves off of the army medic.

But Phoebe barely took one step before another walker dropped through the ceiling, followed by a third. "Son of a bitch!" She quickly grabbed her machete from her belt and smashed it through the skull of the walker currently reaching for her ankle, not bothering with the other one as its head had exploded upon its landing. The next thing she knew it was raining walkers. Those that could began to move and Phoebe followed, sprinting around the corner only to find Glenn with a walker on top of him. Moving fast, she swung the machete, knocking the corpse off Glenn, permanently ending it.

"Come on Glenn," she joked, holding her hand out to help him up. "Stop playing around."

Glenn grinned and took her hand, heaving himself off the floor. "Thanks". Their attention was caught by Bob yelling "No, no!" as he moved forward and Phoebe turned to see a walker had grabbed Zach's leg, biting into it harshly and the kid dropped as his knees buckled in pain. Daryl grabbed Bob, telling him it was too late, and shoved the man forward as the group ran out of the collapsing store.

Zach was lost to them.


	3. Chapter 3

**I know in the last chapter I accidently switched from first person to third halfway through. The story is now being written in third person and at some point I will go back and change the first person from the previous two chapters.**

 **The Walking Dead is not mine.**

 **Chapter Three**

Phoebe sat on the bottom bunk in her cell. Despite arriving with the others from Woodbury, Phoebe lived in cell block C with the original prison group. Only two or three others from Woodbury were given the same privilege and Zach had been one of them. The young boy had been dating Beth Greene, an adorable country beauty, kind-spoken and sweet. Daryl had taken it upon himself to deliver the news of Zach's death to the girl and Phoebe did not envy him that task. The poor girl was only eighteen at most and had already lost more than anyone her age should, though the same could be said for anyone these days.

She took out her gun and got halfway through her job of cleaning it when a shadow blocked the light from her cell door. Phoebe looked up and saw Daryl leaning in the doorframe, his crossbow slung over his shoulder still. "Hey."

She smiled. "Hey yourself."

Daryl pushed off the door frame and took a step into the cell, resting his bow against the wall. "You okay?" Daryl had taken a liking to Phoebe, to the surprise of most of his group, and himself. He felt she was a kind of kindred spirit in that she'd lost her sister to the Governor and she was a… lost soul, much like him.

Phoebe nodded, placing her gun aside as she moved up on the bunk to allow the hunter to sit next to her. "Yeah. You tell Beth?"

"Yeah."

"How'd she take it?"

"Dunno really. Didn't cry."

"Hmm."

They sat in silence for a while, both leaning against the wall. Eventually, Daryl heaved himself off the bed and grabbed his crossbow. "Gonna go see what needs doin'."

"Okay," Phoebe got up too, grabbing her gun and strapping it to her holster at her waist. She pulled her combat boots on and followed Daryl outside. She could see Rick and Carl down by the garden. The sheriff was probably checking his cucumbers. That's pretty much all he did these days, that and look after the pigs. Other residents were milling around the yard, going about their business. Carol was dishing out breakfast by the picnic tables; Phoebe wondered where Patrick was, he normally helped Carol at meal times.

Because she could ask, however, her attention was caught by shouting. Two girls were shouting for help, she couldn't remember their names only that the older one was a little… off. "Walkers in D!" She looked at Daryl before unhooking her machete from her belt and sprinting towards D, others following behind her.

Cell block D was absolute chaos. People were running around, screaming. There were bodies on floor, blood everywhere and walkers ravaging anyone they could grab. Phoebe lunged forward and drove her blade into the skull of the walker that used to be sweet old Mrs Riley, an elderly widow from Woodbury. A tug on her ankle turned her attention to a walker on the floor; clearly a male though the face was unrecognisable. Its jaw opened to take a chunk out of her ankle. Not willing to end up like poor Herschel she lifted her foot and stomped on its head until it caved, dark blood splattered across her boots and the hem of her jeans. "Damnit!" she cursed.

A shout from behind her caused her to turn and she saw one of the little girls from earlier being cornered by a large, rotund walker that was easily over twice her size. Phoebe cursed again and moved to stab it in the head. However, she didn't account for the fact that the walker was also taller than she was and her blade got stuck in the skull at angle that made it difficult for her to pull it back out again. She heaved once, twice and it came loose on the third try, just in time for her to spin around and grab the walker about to munch on her shoulder. At the same time as her machete, an arrow pierced the walker's skull and when the corpse dropped she looked up to see Daryl on the landing, his crossbow aimed in her direction. He gave her a quick nod then turned his aim to her left taking down another walker.

"That was the last of them," the redneck said as he came down the steps.

"What even happened here?" Phoebe wondered.

"Did someone get bit?" asked Glenn.

Herschel came out of one of the cell blocks, a grim look on his face. "Judy will be the most susceptible to this. She'll have to be quarantined away from us."

"Quarantined?" Daryl asked. "The hell you talkin' about?"

"This is very serious. He died horribly." Herschel explained. "Pleurisy Aspiration."

"They choked on their own blood." Phoebe sighed.

"Caused the trails down his face," Dr. S told them.

"Seen them before," Rick answered. "On a walker by the fence."

"They're from internal lung pressure, being shaken from the inside out, filling up your lungs, nose, ears, until it has nowhere to go, until it pops." Phoebe was the one who explained this.

"Is this from the walkers?" Daryl asked. "We got something else to worry about now?"

Dr. S shook his head. "Aggressive from of the flu, been around a long time before this. Unfortunately, when someone died they never had to worry about someone coming back until now."

"Wait, you're saying this is a cold or the flu? Patrick and Charlie were just eating barbeque yesterday, how can a cold kill in just a day?" Daryl asked.

"Violet…" Rick murmured.

"Who the hell is Violet?"

"A pig Carl named, it got sick, died real quick. Saw a bore out in the woods, dead the same way."

Herschel nodded. "Pigs and birds, that's how these things spread in the past. Got to do something about these hogs."

"Maybe we got lucky, just a few cases?" Glenn asked.

The vet shook his head. "The swine flu, the bird flu, they all spread in close quarters. All of us in here, we've been infected. Judy, she's a baby, she's at risk. Any of the kids, Carl, they might have been in here yesterday but right now they aren't infected."

"So what, we just lock them all in different rooms? Are we making everyone stay in D block?"

"Is anyone else showing signs?" Carol came down the stairs. "If this was before, we'd separate anyone who'd been exposed, right?"

"That's everyone in this cell block," Herschel replied.

"All of us, maybe more." Sasha said.

"We can't just wait and see," Dr. S said. "People get sick, they come back. We need to move those that are showing symptoms, isolate them from others."

"A block is the best option," Herschel said.

Glenn looked appalled. "Death row? I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade."

"It's clean, it's an upgrade," Daryl huffed. "Wil that work for you and Dr. S?" he asked Herschel. Both men nodded, "It should."

David, one of the Woodburians who had helped a lot since his arrival, coughed a little and Glenn panicked, moving away. "I'm fine."

"You're coughing," Glenn pointed out. "You need to be isolated."

"Karen's been coughing too," Sasha muttered.

"Judith's been in that cell block." Carol stated.

"We all have," replied Phoebe, shifting her feet anxiously.

"I'll start cleaning out the bodies, get them buried," Daryl said.

"Wear gloves and mask." Herschel warned.

"Ahuh," was the reply he got as the hunter left the cell block.

Phoebe looked at Rick and Herschel. "We need to put Judy and the others somewhere, maybe the admin building?"

Rick nodded, "Good idea." He turned and left the cell block to deal with Carl and the others.


End file.
